Stories written by Social Policy ConnectionsSocial Policy Connections is an independent, ecumenical organisation, motivated and informed by Christian social thinking. Our purpose is to expand awareness of social justice issues in Australia and overseas, and to influence public policy for the benefit of all people, especially the most disadvantaged. SPC is not aligned with any political party. Click here for our brochure.

Geoff Lacey. A clash of values Towards the end of 2017, the Victorian Government put forward a proposal to build a North-East Link Freeway. Their preferred route follows the Greensborough Highway south, and connects with the Eastern Freeway. VicRoads would use tunnelling in some of the ‘residential and sensitive environmental areas’. The tunnel would cross […]

Dr Allan Patience. Prominent writer on international affairs Will speak on Wednesday 14 March 7:30-9pm Yarra Theological Union Study Centre 34 Bedford Street Box Hill Light refreshments will be available after the meeting. Donations welcome. Download the flyer. Associate Professor Allan Patience is a Principal Fellow in the School of Social & Political Sciences at the University […]

You are invited to the book launch on Monday 19 March, 5.00-6.00pm at The Windsor Hotel, Bourke Room, 111 Spring St., Melbourne. Professor Muhammad Yunus is a pioneering economist who invented microcredit, founded Grameen Bank, and earned a Nobel Prize for his work towards alleviating poverty. In A World of Three Zeroes, he […]

Download a .pdf of SPC News. 2018 – a year for confronting looming threats Alarm bells about threats to human wellbeing have been ringing furiously for some decades, though many are deaf to them, or refuse to hear them. But a growing chorus of voices around the world is demanding these warnings be taken very […]

Carol Richards. Queensland University of Technology The non-profit organisation Foodbank released its report Fighting Hunger in Australia this month. Like earlier research it reported that around 15% of Australians experienced food insecurity – an extraordinary figure given up to 40% of edible, but cosmetically imperfect, food is discarded before it reaches the market. The survey […]

Bruce Duncan. Australians have been startled that our government, apparently without any public consultation or debate in parliament, intends greatly to expand Australian arms production to become within ten years one of the top ten defence exporters, on a par with Britain, France, and Germany. Currently, Australia exports about $2 billion of high-tech defence […]

Astonishing the scientific world, human remains have been found in Israel, dating back some 200,000 years, far older than any other human remains found outside Africa. It appears our human ancestry is more complex than we believed. But what of our human future? Where will human beings be in 200,000 years? Will we have survived […]

Geoff Lacey. In 2009, a network of local activists in Spain put forward a proposal through a newspaper to establish a cooperative. In May 2010, they came together and founded the Catalan Integral Cooperative (CIC). This has turned out to be a major new development in the world cooperative movement. According to its website, the […]

Alison Broinowski. It’s unlikely that the Army will commission a further report following Albert Palazzo’s account of the ADF’s operations in Iraq. We have years to wait for Professor Craig Stocking’s official history. What Australia urgently needs is a full independent inquiry into our wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria. Nearly a year ago, on […]